This week, we are joined by Jen Roberts and Nitansha Bansal, both Assistant Directors of the Cyber Statecraft Initiative, from the Atlantic Council, as they are sharing their report "Mythical Beasts and Where to Find Them: Mapping the Global Spyware Market and its Threats to National Security and Human Rights." Ben discusses new election-related deep fake laws coming out of California. Dave looks at an FTC report on social media platforms. While this show covers legal topics, and Ben is a lawyer, the views expressed do not constitute legal advice. For official legal advice on any of the topics we cover, please contact your attorney. Please take a moment to fill out an audience survey! Let us know how we are doing! Links to the stories:

California Passes Election ‘Deepfake’ Laws, Forcing Social Media Companies to Take Action

FTC Staff Report Finds Large Social Media and Video Streaming Companies Have Engaged in Vast Surveillance of Users with Lax Privacy Controls and Inadequate Safeguards for Kids and Teens

Get the weekly Caveat Briefing delivered to your inbox. Like what you heard? Be sure to check out and subscribe to our Caveat Briefing, a weekly newsletter available exclusively to N2K Pro members on N2K CyberWire's website. N2K Pro members receive our Thursday wrap-up covering the latest in privacy, policy, and research news, including incidents, techniques, compliance, trends, and more. This week’s Caveat Briefing covers California Governor Gavin Newsom's recent signing of three AI-related bills aimed at preventing the misuse of sexually explicit deepfakes. These new laws target AI developers and social media platforms, establishing regulations to prevent irresponsible use of the technology, while larger discussions around broader AI regulation continue as Newsom considers a major AI regulation bill pending his decision by September 30. Curious about the details? Head over to the Caveat Briefing for the full scoop and additional compelling stories. Got a question you'd like us to answer on our show? You can send your audio file to [email protected]. Hope to hear from you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices